What I read
I thought I should write one more example of a response to something I read or listened to, and over the last couple of days, several BBC News stories have caught my eye. I decided over this morning's coffee that "Sora Aoi: Japan's porn star who taught a Chinese generation about sex" by Fan Wang was the winner.
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What it says
In his article, Fan Wang tells us how the political tensions between Japan and China have been helped by a Japanese pornography star who has been wildly popular in China since the rise of the Internet when she was making her sex films from 2003 until retiring in 2011. When their schools and parents failed to teach them about it, millions of her Chinese fans learned about sex from Sora Aoi's films, and they appreciate her efforts to learn Chinese culture, especially the Chinese language. They were thrilled when she announced her engagement on New Year's day.
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My response
Even after I had read this article a couple of times, it was difficult to write a short summary, and I'm still not 100% happy with the one I've written, but I can write more in my response here.As I read the story, there were many aspects that interested me. First, I was impressed at how smoothly Sora Aoi moved from porn films to a more mainstream film and singing career. But I also like that she says that she was never ashamed of her job in pornography, which is illegal in China as it is in many other countries. Of course, being illegal does not mean it is not also wildly popular, as her millions of Chinese fans prove. I can't think of any good reason why pornography should be illegal, and as the article tells us, it is one way to learn about sex when parents and teachers do not do their job. Most pornography is legal in Japan, and that country has one of the lowest rates of sex crimes in the world, which makes sense because if people are at home watching sex films, they are not out committing rape or other crimes. Those sorts of violent crimes are also low in the Nordic countries where pornography is legal. Perhaps counties that accept the reality of human interest in sex have better adjusted citizens who are less likely to commit violent crimes of all sorts.
I also like the connection the article makes between the rise of the Internet for sharing and cultural sharing. Another example of this might be the popularity these days of K-pop in Thailand, which can act as a cultural bridge, along with Samsung smartphones. Of course, the Internet and social media can also spread hate and lies, but I think that the positives easily outweigh the negatives, and the less government interference there is the better: censorship is always because someone does not someone else to know something. In the case of pornography, its because repressive politicians, and perhaps misguided parents, don't want young people to learn about sex, but ignorance usually leads to problems, never to wisdom.
For me at least, the most difficult part of these blogs is writing the short summary. That takes about half of the time I spend on each post. I have to read or listen to my chosen source at least a couple of times before I can write a good summary.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it's the longest, the response is the easiest part for me to write because it's just my response, which can be anything. Any feeling, thought, agreement, disagreement or memory I have is a response that I can write. Of course, I still want it to be cohesive, with an introduction, body and conclusion, but it's much more flexible than writing the very short summary for my readers.